Salem Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia sits on a beautiful 104-acre wooded campus with winding paths and gently rolling bluffs that provide an idyllic setting for worship services and Bible studies, as well as a variety of recreational activities by its community of worshippers. Completed in 1979, the church building itself is also warm and welcoming, and features a modern video-ready lighting system.
Salem recently opened the first satellite campus in its 152-year history. Located 12 miles from the main campus, the new Salem at Keys Ferry building was acquired from another church and seats approximately 300. Like the main campus, the new building was designed to support a welcoming worship environment. However, it did not have comparable modern lighting. To address this issue the church contracted StageCulture to design and install a new lighting system for the Keys Ferry.
“The church’s vision was to create a space in this building that would be more contemporary,” says Andrew Ayers, owner of StageCulture. “We welcomed the opportunity to upgrade the lighting system since this space offered excellent possibilities to create a modern lighting rig.”
The new building features a 50-foot-wide stage. With an eye toward this stage being used for future livestreams and video projects, Ayers ensured that it would have a smooth, even, and consistent field of light across its entire width.
“We were able to achieve 50-foot candles across the front of the stage, to dial it in for future video expansion, so it looks great both in house and on camera,” says Ayers. “Appropriate fixture selection, placement and focus were essential in achieving this goal.”
A collection of eight Chauvet Professional Ovation E-160WW 3031 K warm white LED ellipsoidal fixtures, flown in a row over the front of the stage, are providing key lighting at the new building. Drawing on the Ovation fixture’s built-in 16-bit dimming, the church’s lighting team can create smooth transitions, while its Pulse Width Modulation ensures the flicker-free output that will be critical once videos are done at the facility.
Adding punch and variety to the lighting rig are its four Rogue R1X Spot fixtures. Arranged across the upstage deck, these 170W moving lights fill a variety of roles at the church. Drawing the fixtures’ motorized iris and frost, the design team uses them to create aerial effects. They are also relied on to project a variety of colorful gobos across the stage, as well as on the walls and ceiling.
On the subject of gobos, Ayers notes that they “fall in line with wanting to keep the church’s rig modern and contemporary.” He adds, “Gobos are a great way to add texture to a space giving it a very contemporary feel.”
Drawing up plans for the new rig in Previz, Ayers and his team took five days to install the entire system. This included rigging, cable pulling, fixture installation and commissioning. When it was completed, church leaders, including Worship Pastor Brian Petersen, who Ayers says was instrument in the success of the project, took a look at the new lighting system.
Their reaction? “They client was surprised,” says Ayers. “I don’t think they were fully aware of how well a small number of fixtures placed in the appropriate locations could really transform a space.”
